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Anna Louisa Walker
Anna Louisa Walker (23 June 1836 - 7 July 1907) was an English and Canadian poet, novelist, and teacher. Her poem "The Night Cometh" serves as the lyrics of the popular hymn "Work, for the night is coming". Life Youth and family Walker was born to Robert and Anna Walker on 23 June 1836 in Staffordshire, England. She was the last of her father's 9 children, although only her brothers Thomas Andrew, and Charles were full siblings, her older siblings being from her father's 2 previous marriages. Canada Her father was a civil engineer, who around 1853 brought the family to Pointe-Lévy, Lower Canada, where he was employed with the Grand Trunk Railroad. In 1858, the family relocated to Sarnia, Canada West. Soon after their arrival in Sarnia, Anna Louisa founded a private girl's school with her sisters Frances and Isabella. The school was only open a few years before the deaths of Frances and Isabella forced its closure.Lorraine McMullen, Walker, Anna Louisa (Coghill), Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto / Universite Laval, Web, June 12, 2012. Poems by Walker had been published in newspapers and periodicals beginning when she was a teenager. She published an anonymous collection of poems entitled Leaves from the Backwoods in 1861. The volume was printed in Montreal by John Lovell. Return to England In 1863 or 1864, her parents returned to England, and she accompanied them. In September 1864, Walker's father died. Soon afterward, her mother died as well. Walker secured a place in the house of her 2nd cousin, Margaret Oliphant, in 1866, as her companion-housekeeper. Oliphant was a successful writer, who encouraged Walker to write fiction rather than poetry, and recommended her works to publishers with which she already had contact. Walker's debut novel, A Canadian Heroine, was published in 1873, and her 2nd, Against Her Will, in 1877. In 1876, she published a collection entitled Plays for Children. Her 3rd novel, Lady's Holm, was published n 1877 in London, and her 4th, Hollywood, in 1878 by Samuel Tinsey. Walker's 5th novel, Two Rival Wovers, was published in London in 1881. On 29 January 1884, Walker married Harry Coghill a wealthy widower whose fortune was made manufacturing chemicals. The family settled in Staffordshire. In 1890, her volume Oak and Maple: English and Canadian verses was published under her married name, Mrs. H. Coghill. She published The Trial of Mary Broom: A Staffordshire story, a 6th novel, in 1894. Harry Coghill died in 1897. In 1899, Walker served as the editor of her 2nd cousin's autobiography, Autobiography and letters of Mrs. M.O.W. Oliphant. Walker died 7 July 1907 in Bath, England. Writing Poetry From her debut collection of poetry, Leaves from the Backwoods (1861)the poem "The Night Cometh" was taken and set to music by Ira D. Sankey, who published it as a hymn, "Work, for the night is coming" in the collection Sacred Songs and Solos. As the poem was published anonymously, Walker received no credit in the volume for the lyrics, which were commonly misattributed to Sidney Dyer. The poem is based on . Most poems in the collection concern religious or natural themes More than half of the poems in Oak and Maple: English and Canadian verses (1890) were reprinted from Leaves from the Backwoods. As with her earlier collection, most poems concern religious or natural themes. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography observes that "The most effective are those characterized by unpretentious phrasing and directness of expression, but most are conventional in diction, form, and subject matter. At times her nature poems are close to transcendental in their expression of the spiritual in nature." "The Night Cometh" is reprinted, and Coghill remarks that she discovered the poem's use in hymn, and its being improperly attributed in the hymnbook. After hearing the hymn at a temperance meeting, she tracked down the source, and subsequent editions appeared with the correct attribution. Fiction Walker's debut novel, A Canadian Heroine (1873) tells the story of a 16-year-old woman living in a small town along the St. Lawrence River courted by a Canadian man, who has her suitor almost driven off when she becomes enamoured on a visiting English aristocrat. The English aristocrat's interest turns out to be fleeting, and the story is an allegory for what Walker perceived as the naivety of the new world and the corruption of the old. Her 3rd novel, Against Her Will (1877) tells of how a young woman copes with her father's illness. The protagonist's competence and strength of character evoke the contemporaneously developing idea of the new woman. Walker's 4th novel, Lady's Holm (1878) was praised by a contemporary review in The Spectator for its "picturesque descriptions and good incisive delineation of character". W.W. Tulloch's review in The Academy praised the story for its character development, descriptive language, and wholesomeness, while criticising the book for its somewhat stale and outdated style. Publications Poetry *''Leaves from the Backwoods'' (anonymous). Montreal: John Lovell, 1861. *''Oak and Maple: English and Canadian verses'' (as "Mrs. H. Coghill"). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1890. Novels *''A Canadian Heroine'' (as "the author of Leaves from the Backwoods). (3 volumes), London: Tinsley, Samuel Tinsley, 1873. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. *''Against Her Will''. (3 volumes), London: Samuel Tinsley, 1877. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III *''Lady's Holm''. London: 1878. *''Hollywood''. London: Samuel Tinsley, 1880. *''Two Rival Lovers''. London. 1881. *''The Trial of Mary Broom: A Staffordshire story'' (as Mrs. H. Coghill). London: Hutchinson, 1893. Juvenile * Plays for Children. London and New York, 1876. Second edition (as Mrs. H. Coghill), London, 1896. Edited *''The Autobiography and Letters of Mrs. M.O.W. Oliphant'' (as Mrs. H. Coghill). Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1899; New York: Dodd, Mead, 1899; Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press, 1974. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Mrs. Harry Coghill, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer LibraryCenter Inc. Web, Dec. 7, 2013. See also *List of British poets *List of Canadian poets *List of English-language hymnists References Notes External links ;Poems *Walker, Annie Louisa (1836-1907) (2 poems) at Representative Poetry Online *Anna Louisa Walker at PoemHunter (3 poems) *Anna Louisa Walker Coghill at HymnTime ;Books *[http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?doc=41606 Leaves from the Backwoods] at Early Canadiana Online *''A Canadian Heroine'', by Anna Louisa Walker at Early Canadiana Online: Volume I Volume II Volume III *''Oak and Maple English and Canadian verses'' at Early Canadiana Online *Anna Louisa Walker at Amazon.ca ;About *Anna Louisa Walker at My Poetic Side *Anna Louisa Walker at Canada's Early Women Writers *Walker, Anna Louisa (Coghill) in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Category:1836 births Category:1907 deaths Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian women writers Category:English poets Category:English women writers Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets